Making wine ~ and quaffing the results

I make no secret that Pumpjack, aka David, is my very own, personal wine maker. Am I lucky, or what?  I’ve detailed our adventures in finding a vineyard after moving here to France, as well as what’s involved in working a vineyard (read back breaking work) ~ see Our Wine page ~ but what you don’t yet know is that he has also gone through the (painful, French) process of becoming a Négociant.

So what is a négociant? It is the French term for a wine merchant who  buys everything from grapes to grape must (the mushy in between stage), to wines in various states of completion, often from smaller growers, eg without the where with all of producing and marketing their own wines. Sometimes a vineyard will produce too small a quantity of grapes to make it worthwhile to make a wine, very often as a result of bad weather. This year would be a case in point here in Burgundy. A négociant offers the grower the opportunity to sell his product, a win win situation.

The négociant is not just limited to France either, but can search out grapes, etc. anywhere in Europe. What he does with these findings varies. He may simply sell a wine under his own name, as is the case with our limited ‘Fissure‘ wine, which is not normally available outside of France, or even for that matter its own area. And, as is the case of my personal Oenologist, he is  particularly searching out unusual and limited availability grapes and/or wine to blend to form his own amazing  wines.  (Watch this space for the results in the near future!)

If you would like to know more about this side of our lives, we have a new website www.Terroir-au-Verre.com dedicated to this side of our business. We detail the wines, the process, there’s even geeky bits for those inclined. And… you can even buy our results. So, if you ever wanted truly unique, amazing wines, at affordable prices, that you can’t get just anywhere follow the updates on the site and put in your order. (And watch for their future Members Club so you don’t miss out.)

And now the sun is setting outside my window as I write this, so we know what that means. It’s wine o’clock. Santé.

Fissure wine by Terroir au Verre

2017 Goals ~ Let’s go with Healthy, Wealthy and Wise… and a couple donkeys

I absolutely adore that the advent of the New Year gives one a sense of renewal, a chance to reflect and consequently focus on ones short and long term goals.  We have lots of changes planned for 2017 and, I must say, yes, I must, that we are very, very excited (and a teeny bit scared).  We will be putting all our eggs into our  entrepreneurial basket and focusing our time specifically ~ Pumpjack’s to our new wine business Terroir au Verre and me, Piddlewick, to my Pumpjack & Piddlewick  Shop and the life that goes on behind it, so our blog will get a bit of a face lift too this year.

Welcome 2017! It’s make or break time.
(Hmmm, maybe not a good euphemism when talking about entrepreneurial eggs.)

Morning Coffee – time to rejuvenate and rehydrate my skin

I wrote a post about this ages ago, but decided today that anything worth doing, is worth doing again. And yesterday I treated myself to just this concept, making the time to make my luscious coffee scrub again. This time of year, dark, dank and muddy for us, just begged me to cheer myself up with this treat. My skin has been feeling so dry, what with the heating on and lots of wool clothing, so needs must, and my goodness I feel rejuvenated, rehydrated and ready to take on the rest of winter.

Can Ducks be Pets – Duck Tales and FAQS

I posted a picture of our duck Maggie sleeping on Pumpjacks shoulder on Instagram a little while ago. Lots of likes and then a comment to the affect, ‘Ewwww, there is just something wrong with having a duck as a pet’. It got me to thinking.  A year and a half in with Maggie, can  ducks actually be pets? The answer is a resounding and surprising ~ Yes! But, the more important question is ~ why?

Walkies! Walking our dog, cats and ducks

I am new to having a dog, and new to the ritual of dog walking. With the advent of the grape harvest and Pumpjack working as an Oenologist in Chablis it fell to me to walk our young Chewie in the mornings. I wasn’t looking forward to this, particularly as the days closed in and the weather turned colder, potentially wetter, not to mention the time it would take away from my day.  Turns out, I must say, I love it.I have always wanted to be a morning person, and the animals have definitely cemented this  reality with their dawn (if not earlier) to dusk lifestyle.

Harvest Widow – the other, though arguably not better, half of wine making

There’s a term in the the wine industry, a ‘Harvest Widow’. I’m a Harvest Widow. In fact this is my 6th time being a widow. No, I haven’t butchered 6 husbands and hidden them under the vines, though harvest time may give one ideas. Harvest season is the best of times and the worst of times, as it brings in the bounty (hopefully) but also means long, long, long hours, getting up before dawn, coming home well after dark, often working through the night. And as a Harvest Widow, I keep the home fires burning, food ready and on the table and to bring to work the next day, the animals fed, watered and walked, and I do lots and lots and lots of laundry.

Animal Antics – Birth, Death, Amputations, Games of Spies and a retarded duck (Part 2)

This is the continuing chaotic saga of the animals antics that abounded this summer. Please do read Part 1 first, if you haven’t. Then follow the link at the end back to here.

From Death, we come full circle back to Gigi. With our attention diverted to the rabbits, our very pregnant Gigi was not getting all the right type of attention she would have liked and spent most of her days lounging under next doors sun umbrella. Much more tranquil, no other animals. Our neighbours texts kept me up to date with her location. Then she went missing for 3 days and returned one evening skinny, and starving, demanding to be fed. She ate everything in sight including the dog food, hissing in passing as Lapsong and Chewie watched. This set up the pattern for each night.

We were certain she had had the kittens in the neighbours garden, under their shed or in the garage. They were certain she had had them under our pool house. We decided we would try to follow her and see where she went. What ensued were a series of evening manoeuvres Special Forces would be proud of, but with maybe less favourable results.

Animal Antics – Birth, Death, Amputations, Spy Games and a Retarded Duck (Part 1)

WARNING! Animal Antics are not for the faint hearted. My nerves and emotions are just about settled now. Thank goodness. This  two months have been a bumper roller coaster ride of happiness and sorrow, frantic activity and chaotic wonder in our little animal world. Not even a moment to blog a morsel of cheese for a mouse.

Our Gigi leads the pack by getting pregnant, again, and very, very sneakily. What we didn’t know was when her kittens were not even quite 6 weeks old, she tarted herself up and went on the prowl. First time lucky we figure since she appeared to be with her kittens the whole time. About a week after giving away the last of the kittens (at 9 weeks) we finally noticed she was a tad pudgy around the middle. Our first reaction was ‘No way!’, but Yes way and we had to cancel her sterilisation at the vet. (Honest, we had tried not to let her know what was in store for her.) By the next week we knew for sure as her appetite soared and so did her telling us about her day. It was like living with an opera singer on full non-stop vocal.

Who Says the Countryside is Quiet?!

Life is never dull here.  Who needs the excitement of city life when you have the countryside and all it offers…

We took over the Gardien’s cottage in November 2013 and have been enjoying the dramas of its garden, and animals, ever since.  Every day some new adventure comes our way, but with 8 animals initially, now up to 16, and that’s not including the wild critters who reside in and around, how could there ever be a dull moment?

Building new pallet beds, Part 1 ~ Getting our excuses in early and planting late

If you have followed the weather at all here in France, particularly Northern Burgundy, you will know we have had rain. Rain, rain, rain. Plu, plu, plu. (Don’t you just love the French word for rain? It sounds just like a drop of rain hitting a surface.) Needless to say, all this rain has had a bit of an affect on the garden. Add in a deep frost at the end of April and storms in May, and I have to say I am so glad I have been really lazy this year where the garden is concerned.  Ah, what I mean is… I waited with due diligence until there was an opportunity to truly work on it.